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DUBROVAČKI LJETNI FESTIVAL
DUBROVNIK SUMMER FESTIVAL
HRVATSKA / CROATIA
Atrij Kneževa dvora
21. kolovoza 1999.
21.30 sati
Rector's Palace Atrium
21 August 1999
9.30 p.m.
GUDAČKI SEKSTET BERLINSKE
FILHARMONIJE
BERLIN PHILHARMONIC STRING
SEXTET
Bernhard Hartog, Rüdiger Liebermann
Violine /violins
Wolfram Christ, Walter Küssner
Viole / violas
Georg Faust, Ansgar Schneider
Violončela /cellos
R. Strauss
A. Schönberg
Gudački sekstet, op. 85
(iz opere "Capriccio")
String sextet, Op. 85
(from
the
opera
Andante con moto
"Capriccio")
Gudački sekstet, op. 4
String sextet, Op. 4
"Verklärte Nacht"
***
J. Brahms
Gudački sekstet u B-duru, op. 18
String sextet in B flat major, Op. 18
Allegro ma non troppo
Tema s varijacijama- Andante ma
moderato
Scherzo- Allegro molto- Trio- AnimatoRondo- Poco allegretto e grazioso
Capriccio (written in 1941) is the last piece of stage music by Richard
Strauss (1864 - 1949). Like the Last Four Songs, so is the Capriccio the
composer's musical will, very special and characteristic, for, in this Op. 85.
Strauss explores one of most ancient dilemmas: mind or emotion, music or
word - the topics written about, discussed and placed into focus by artists
of all times and epochs. At the beginning of the opera, there is the string
sextet which, together with the Music of the Moon, the interlude before the
Finale, makes an instrumental unity within this work of stage music. And
just as the entire output of Richard Strauss, symphonic and operatic, and
chamber headed by the solo songs alike, oscillates eternally between the
mind and the heart (with his most subtle pages assigned to the cruelties of
Salomé and Electra, respectively), so this luxurious piece of chamber
music mixes the classical measure (sonata form) with the flames of
passionate and tempestuous melodic changes, just like the ones Strauss left
in such abundance in his symphonic poems and operas.
'I am a conservative forced to become a radical', said Arnold Schönberg
(1874 -1951), the father of ‘the new music', and one of most interesting
composers of the first half of the century. Ervartung, Pierrot Lunaire,
Gurre Lieder, the opera Moses and Aaron should present his works best
known to the widest audience, if there is anything like that in
contemporary music. Yet, at the start of Schonberg's output, there stands a
work that fully justifies the epithet of 'the late flower of Romanticism',
attributed to the composer by Michael Rose. For, the string quartet named
'The Night o f Metamorphosis' (Op.4, composed in 1899; in 1917. revised
for string orchestra, in 1943. final revision) can hardly reveal the
radicalism of the later Schonberg. Inspired by the poem 'Weib und Welt' by
Richard Dehmel, he seems to follow the romantically overflown Wagner,
not only in the musical, but equally in the intellectual exploring of the
'eternally feminine' secret and of the tragedy of human (love) relations. His
expression is so deeply captivating, that it deletes any speculations on the
'Schonberg-and-contemporary (modern?) music1 topics.
Despite the fact that, while awaiting Johannes Brahms (1833 -1897),
Robert Schumann discerned in him 'the up-coming one'..., the 'harsh
northerner' as Brahms was known, left the veritable examples of his above
all sensible and shy person right in the field on chamber music. Master
Brahms wrote two compositions for the string sextet - the first of the two,
Op. 18 in B flat major, being an early work by the date of its birth, but a
highly mature piece by its expression. In chamber ensembles, Brahms
shows his special love for the mutual play of the instruments, so obvious in
his piano trios and quartets, equally in his chamber works with the clarinet
as the leading instrument. The play of voices and lines, their accordic and
polyphonic agreements, their clashes and solutions, present the
masterpieces of the romantic chamber literature. In the String Sextet Op.
18, the play is particularly impressive in the Theme with variations, the
favourite form of composers of all times which with Brahms, and
Schumann alike, capture the imagination of every exuberantly talented
author.